‘Reckless’ Audi driver speeds the entire length of UK in 9 hours
SAFETY campaigners are calling for a ‘totally reckless’ Audi driver to be prosecuted after he broke the land speed record from John O’Groats to Land’s End tearing along at 90mph.
Speed-loving Tommy Davies made the 841-mile journey in nine hours and 36 minutes - hitting only one red light.
Yet he did not get a single ticket – despite zooming past 50 speed cameras and seven police cars.
Mr Davies boasted that only a fighter jet could have beaten his time and Google Maps estimates a journey of almost 15 hours.
The 26-year-old from Llangollen, North Wales, undertook the latenight stunt with his friend Tom Harvey in a specially adapted Audi S5 with a 4.2 litre VA engine last September. They upgraded the vehicle to 400 brake horsepower, installed detectors to pick up speed cameras and police radio signals so they could track their movements, and built a fuel tank in the boot that extends the range of the car from 250 miles to over 400 miles.
The pair had been planning how to beat previous unofficial records for six years.
Mr Davies, who filmed the average 90mph journey on a dashcam, said: ‘If you speak to a lot of people, the ten-hour mark doesn’t seem possible to break, with the average speed cameras and the police, the odds were stacked against us. A lot of people said it couldn’t be done – so we went out to prove them wrong.
‘We believe we are the only ones to do it that quick on land – only a FG1 Phantom fighter Jet has done it faster in just under 47 minutes.’
Neal Champion held the previous record on a motorbike, completing the journey in 11 hours 14 minutes at an average speed of 78.7 mph in 1984 – before speed cameras were widespread.
But while Mr Davies was thrilled with his record, others were left unimpressed.
Ian Crowder, head of road safety at the AA, told MailOnline last night: ‘This is just totally reckless and irresponsible. Britain’s road are crowded, and far too many people are injured and killed in road accidents every day.
‘For somebody to deliberately set about to break the land speed record, film it, and admit how many police he passed and how many cameras he avoided is an outrageous example of putting thousands lives at risk.
‘I hope the police prosecute him. It is almost unbelievable that somebody would do that, deliberately, and then brag about it. And to film it? Words fail me. I think it will provide the police all the evidence they need to prosecute him.’ Yesterday a survey revealed Audi drivers were most likely to behave like boy racers, breaking the UK speed limit more often than any other motorists at 8.7 per cent of the time. Mr Davies and Mr Harvey studied the route for six years, breaking it up into sections so they knew where police may be parked and where speed cameras were.
Mr Davies, who did not tell his family he was completing the stunt, said they left at 8pm to ensure they arrived at the major cities en route when the traffic was lightest. They stopped to refuel near Lancaster at 1.18am before arriving in Land’s End at 5.36am. Admitting ‘speeding is controversial’ and puts lives at risk, Mr Davies claimed he slowed down near other cars.
North Wales Police was not available for comment.
‘Thousands of lives at risk’